Kokomo to build $9 million baseball stadium

Kokomo has announced plans to build a $9 million, 4,000-seat baseball stadium to be used mostly by local high school teams and for concerts and other special events. Construction will begin soon and it could open in April 2015.
(Photo:
Artist’s illustration provided by City of Kokomo.
)

Kokomo plans to play ball in a $9 million baseball stadium to be built downtown in a floodplain along Wildcat Creek.

The development plan, pushed by Mayor Greg Goodnight, won unanimous endorsement from a baseball stadium committee the mayor appointed.

The proposed 4,000-seat park would be the first new baseball stadium in Kokomo, since Highland Park Stadium was built in 1955. That stadium was once home field for the Kokomo Dodgers, a minor league affiliate of the former Brooklyn Dodgers.

The primary users of the new stadium would be four Howard County high schools that have committed to playing home games there. It also would host concerts and other special events.

Goodnight, a Democrat who’s spoken and written about the need for cities to build or subsidize public amenities to attract business and serve residents, said the stadium project also includes $2.5 million for flood mitigation.

“Little did we know that the need for comprehensive flood mitigation and the need to re-establish a first class baseball facility would eventually merge into one of the largest new developments in downtown’s history,” Goodnight said in a statement.

Construction is expected to begin soon and the stadium could open in April 2015, in time for next year’s high school baseball season.

The mayor also announced that the city is paying off a $6 million parking garage five years early.